Child Care News
Disease a risk to Gold Coast kindy kids
Gold Coast Bulletin News - Stephanie Bedo - September 29, 2011THE highly contagious hand, foot and mouth disease is spreading through Gold Coast childcare centres. The Gold Coast Public Health Unit is warning children to stay indoors until the outbreak has subsided after receiving several reported cases of the disease, mostly stemming from childcare...
Banks in $500m ABC Learning Centres legal wrangle
Australian Financial Review - Samantha Bowers - September 29, 2011The banking syndicate that financed collapsed childcare group ABC Learning Centres could be forced to give back more than $500 million in payments made by the company before its collapse...
Early Use of Non-Parental Childcare Is Not Harmful for Most Children, Norwegian Study Finds
ScienceDaily - September 27, 2011The report indicates that there is no evidence that early centre-based childcare is harmful for most children. Most pre-school children in Norway attend different types of childcare arrangements on a daily or weekly basis, and by far the majority are in centre-based...
Crisis in childcare industry
Queensland Times - Megan Kinninment - September 26th, 2011EARLY childhood workers are in crisis, an industry summit in Lismore heard on Saturday, with 15,000 leaving the profession each year as they struggle with low wages and increasing stress. Childcare workers are passionate about their vocation, but many can't afford to stay...
Tax break urged for childcare, including nannies
The Age - Stephanie Peatling - September 25, 2011Canberra's tax summit will look at current childcare payments. To be held next month, it will also examine how the tax and family payment systems interact, after Treasury research found returning to work was often financially unattractive for parents...
Nannies give gift of freedom
Sydney Morning Herald - Melissa Davey - September 25, 2011She said it would free up spaces in childcare centres and prevent ''cash in hand'' nannies from operating, who were often not as qualified as those from professional agencies...
Victorian childcare centres to face squeeze for spots
Herald Sun - Terry Brown - September 24, 2011VICTORIA could lose 4000 childcare spots next year under new Government rules to boost staff-to-child ratios at child care centres. And those parents who can find a place for their child could be slugged as much as $13 a day more for the service...
Childcare reforms add $25 a day
The Australian - Natasha Bita - September 23, 2011CHILDCARE centres are jacking up their fees as much as $25 a day to pay for the extra staff required to meet tough new quality regulations next year. Working parents will typically be charged at least $20 a week more for childcare from January...
Childcare centres use GPS to track children
Sydney Morning Herald - September 22, 2011Childcare centres in Sweden have started using GPS systems and other electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on children during excursions - a practice that has raised ethical and practical questions. Some parents are worried childcare centres will...
Bankers want more tax breaks for parents
Sydney Morning Herald - September 21, 2011Bankers are asking the federal government to consider more tax breaks for parents who want to work but are put off by high childcare costs at next month's national tax forum. The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) has released a position paper sent...
Government delivering stability in the child care market
DEEWR Media Release - September 20, 2011The new laws require larger child care providers to provide more information to the Australian Government, so that their ongoing financial viability can be monitored and assessed. The Australian Government will now have the power to audit any large child care provider...
Parents' fears over child care
The Canberra Times - Michael Inman - September 18, 2011Parents have withdrawn a number of children from a south Canberra child-care centre alleging management ignored warnings of a staff member using verbal and physical discipline on children. Parents at the centre have told the Sunday Canberra Times they have...
Putting baby in nursery 'could raise its risk of heart disease' because it sends stress levels soaring
Daily Mail (UK) - Fiona MacRae - September 12, 2011Aric Sigman, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, has warned that spending long periods being cared for by strangers in the first years of life can send levels of stress hormones soaring. This could raise the odds of a host of problems...
Poor wages hit childcare
Sydney Morning Herald - Stephanie Peatling - September 11, 2011MORE than a third of childcare centres employ staff without the required qualifications because of a chronic shortage of workers. Childcare workers will meet in Sydney next weekend to warn the federal government it might not meet its own targets for...
Corporate women say nannies are vital on road to gender equality
Sydney Morning Herald - Kelsey Munro - September 10, 2011The federal Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care, Kate Ellis, says parents who hire a nanny may be eligible for government support through the Child Care Benefit Registered Care rate. ''We need to recognise, though, that access to...
